Invitation
May I hereby call your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wants to share with you the joy of the Gospel.
Everyone, no one excepted,
can experience that joy by opening his heart
to the healing effect of God’s word.
Available every day.
Consideration
“[…] a blasphemy: That Thou, a man, makest Thyself God.” This is clearly an element in the trial for Jesus. Matthew and Mark also have the scene where the high priest tears his robe, saying “What need have we of witnesses, thou hast after all heard blasphemy thyself. Since the fourth gospel emphasises the divine dignity of Jesus very strongly, the rejection also comes into sharper focus. At the same time, the emphasis is on the blindness and obstinacy of those who see the works and yet do not believe.
FIRST READING Jer. 20, 10-13
The Lord is with me as a mighty warrior.
From the Prophet Jeremiah
I hear many whisper :
“There you have dismay – everywhere.”
Bring it on, yes, we bring it on.
All my friends want nothing more
than to bring me down.
They say :
Maybe he’ll let himself be tricked,
then we’ll overpower him
and we can avenge ourselves on him.
God the Lord is with me as a mighty warrior.
My pursuers fall down, they will not overcome.
They become deeply ashamed, never achieving anything.
Their disgrace lasts forever, it is never forgotten !
God of the heavenly powers,
who searches all things righteously,
who searches out hearts and minds,
let me see how you avenge them.
For I have placed my cause in thy hands.
Sing a song, a song of praise to the Lord thy God,
for He has taken the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked.
RESPONSORIAL Ps. 18(17), 2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7
I turned to the Lord in my distress,
his ear caught my cries of distress.
Lord, You I love, my strength are You,
my refuge, my fortress, my deliverer.
My God, the rock where I find refuge.
My shield, my preservation, my protection.
When I call upon the Lord, praise be to him,
no enemy can harm me.
For waves of peril enclosed me,
“a flood of evil made me fearful.
The net of the realm of the dead held me captive,
the snare of death was already upon me.
Then I turned to the Lord in my distress
and I called upon my God for help.
He heard my voice in his high palace,
His ear caught my cries of distress.
VERSE FOR THE GOSPEL Lk. 15, 18
I will go to my father again
and I will say to him :
Father, I have done wrong against heaven and against you.
GOSPEL John 10, 31-42
The Jews try again to seize Jesus, but He puts Himself beyond their reach.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
At that time the Jews were picking up stones to stone Jesus.
But Jesus said to them :
“I have done before you many good works
which proceed from the Father ;
for which of these works would you stone me?”
The Jews answered Him :
“Not for a good work do we stone You
but for a blasphemy :
That thou, a man, makest thyself God.”
Jesus answered them :
“Is it not written in thy law :
I have said : Ye are gods ?
“She called those to whom the word of God was addressed gods,
and the Scriptures have binding force.
“But why then do you accuse Me,
who was sanctified by the Father and sent into the world,
of blasphemy when I call Myself the Son of God?
“If I do not do the works of my Father,
you need not believe Me,
but if I do them
then believe those works if you do not want to believe Me.
“Then you will see and recognize
that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father.”
Then they tried again to seize Him
but He put Himself beyond their reach.
He went back across the Jordan,
to the place where John had first baptized
and stayed there.
Many came to Him, for they said :
“John may not have done any sign ,
but everything he said about this man was true.”
And many began to believe in Him there.
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home by Pope Francis
126. Let us also pick up something from the long monastic tradition. At the beginning, they in a sense favoured escape from the world by thus seeking to remove themselves from the decadence of the city. Therefore, the monks sought the desert, convinced that it was the appropriate place to recognise the presence of God. Next, Saint Benedict of Norcia wanted his monks to live in community, uniting prayer and study with manual work (Ora et labora). This introduction of handiwork imbued with spiritual meaning proved revolutionary. People learned to seek maturation and sanctification in an interweaving of contemplation and labour. This way of experiencing labour makes us more capable of caring and respecting the environment, fulfils our relationship with the world of a healthy sobriety.
To be continued
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical Suggestions for Weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation